History of the District

Sometime between 1844 and 1850, a school district was organized by a group of people interested in students. The school district consisted of a portion of Brownstown Township and Monguagon Township and was named Brownstown School District #10, more commonly referred to as West Road School. A one room log school house was built on a half-acre plot on the southeast corner of West Road and what is now Allen Road. Land for this original school was donated by Mr. J.C. Curley.

In 1926, the School Board voted to close West Road School and send the students to Trenton Public Schools as tuition students from the Brownstown #10 School District. The West Road School remained the meeting place for the Brownstown #10 Board of Education. Eventually the land was returned to the heirs of Mr. Curley.

In 1951, the portion of Brownstown, which was made up of Monguagon Township, was annexed to Trenton Public Schools. The portion of the school district in Brownstown Township (most of which is now the City of Woodhaven) remained the Brownstown #10 School District.

In the mid 1950s, the community felt it was time to once again open their own Brownstown #10 elementary school, and the voters approved the building of Bates Elementary School.

In September 1957, Bates Elementary School opened serving 114 students. It had been almost 30 years since the community had their own school building. Youngsters in seventh grade through high school continued to attend Trenton Public Schools as tuition students.

In the late 1960s, the Brownstown #10 School District was ordered by the Michigan Courts to join with the Carson School District, the Hand School District, and the Maple Grove School District to form one school district and offer a K-12 educational program. This was the birth of the Woodhaven School District in 1968. Woodhaven High School opened its doors in the fall of 1972, accepting its first class of ninth graders.

Because much of the district was comprised of Brownstown residents, the Woodhaven Board of Education, at their regular meeting held on Monday, June 1, 1998, voted to adopt the resolution to change the legal name of the Woodhaven School District to the Woodhaven-Brownstown School District.

The following school year, 1998-1999, the grade/building configuration of the district changed from Grades K-6 Elementary; Grades 7-8 Middle School; Grades 9-12 High School to K-5 students being housed at our five elementary schools; 6-7 students at Brownstown Middle School, 8-9 at students at Patrick Henry Middle School, and 10-12 students at Woodhaven High School.

The Bond Program, approved by voters in 2002, allowed the district to move forward with the renovation of all eight school buildings, the addition of two new buildings, and leading-edge technology. Transportation Department staff moved to their new building behind Woodhaven High School in July 2004. The Administration and Board of Education Offices, adjacent to Patrick Henry Middle School on Hall Road, were occupied in December 2009. In addition, ongoing voter approved Sinking Funds have allowed the district to keep each of these buildings in excellent repair and also given the staff, students, and community much to be proud of.

In November 2015, voters approved another school bond proposal that will allow the district to provide first-class facilities for all students and focus on making the WBSD a Destination for Excellence.